A Dwarf Priest

Last updated: 03/25/08 (patch 2.4).

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• General Tips
• Levels 0-9
• Levels 10-19
• Levels 20-29
• Levels 30-39
• Levels 40-49
• Levels 50-59
• Levels 60-69
• Life at 70
• Appendices: Charts of Zones and Instances, by Level

 

 

In general:

Gearing:

Always have a good wand for leveling. Always.

At low levels, focus on gear with spirit/intellect/stamina. “Of the Whale” gear (stamina and spirit) is pretty good for low level priests. Spirit is a key stat for limiting downtime while leveling if you have talent points in “Spirit Tap” (see below). Be sure to grab spell damage on gear if you can get it.

After about level 50, you will want to start to go out of your way to get spell damage everywhere you can. If you are leveling as a shadow priest, spirit starts to become a less useful stat for you (as you will be relying on spell damage to regenerate mana via Vampiric Touch, not spirit). Once you hit Outlands, spell damage is your #1 priority for leveling, no matter your spec. You should be looking for it on every piece of gear.

After about level 40, you will probably want to start gathering some different gear for healing in instances than for doing damage. A few key healing pieces (with +healing, mp5, intellect, or spirit) can really make a difference. After level 60, you will probably want to keep an entirely different set of gear for healing.

Talents:

You will gain a talent point every level beginning at level 10. You can spend these talent points into talent trees that will increase the abilities of your character. Press “n” to see your talent trees. Priests have: Discipline, Holy, and Shadow Magic. [You can see the priest talent trees here.]

You will level faster as a shadow-specced priest (meaning, a priest that spends talents points in the shadow tree). Being able to kill mobs faster means you level faster. It’s true. You can level fine as a holy/disc priest, yes, but if speed is your concern, spec shadow. You will still be able to heal in instances just fine as a shadow priest while leveling, so do consider going that path.

Think about it this way: say you kill every mob 2 seconds faster as a shadow priest. How many thousands of mobs do you kill while leveling? If it was 100,000 mobs you would be saving yourself 56 hours of play time. That time really adds up! But, if you do not like playing shadow priest, don’t make leveling a chore for yourself. Spec how it makes you happy. Play to have fun.

Really, the two must-have talents for limiting downtime while working through a lot of mobs are:

• Spirit Tap (first tier talent in the Shadow tree): 5 pts – Upon killing a mob, increases your spirit by 100%. Allows an extra 50% of you mana regen to continue while casting. This makes you regen more mana, limiting your downtime between mobs. The less time you spend having to drink, the faster you can go.

• Wand Specialization (first tier Discipline Talent): 5 pts – Increases the damage done by wands by 25%. You’ll most likely be finishing off mobs with your wand, as to put yourself in the “not casting” state sooner so that you gain more mana back from Spirit Tap. A 25% increase to something you do about 1/3 of the time is significant.

Try to pick both of those up for leveling, regardless of your other talent choices.

Grinding vs. Questing vs. Instancing:

Grinding: don’t do it. Well, at least not until you are in the Outlands. Recent changes have made quest xp so much better for leveling. Only grind if you are after something in specific. (Grinding is spending time repeatedly killing mobs in an area while not on a quest to do so.)

Quests will give you good xp, money, and rep (faction reputation). These are your bread and butter for leveling. There are various “quest hubs”, with many quest givers. If you run out of quests, just head over to the next quest hub (lists below). Once you hit Outlands, it is okay to go easy on the questing. Grinding instances or mobs for rep and/or xp is fine. If you save your quests, doing them at max level (level 70) will net you a massive amount of gold.

Instances are a great source of rep and xp. Try to pick up every single quest for the instance before you go. Given all the quest xp you get, you can easy gain more than one level for every instance you do. Repeat runs of instances provide less benefit (due to the lack of quest xp after the first time), so only keep going if you are after a particular item, or a particular reputation (if rep. is awarded in the instance). For that matter, if rep. is your concern, as with many Outlands instances, you can “grind” the instances for rep. before you start doing the relevant quests/pre-quests for that faction as to maximize your rep. gains (as instances stop awarding rep at certain rep levels, but non-repeatable quests will continue to do so).

Training:

Every two levels (up to level 60) you will gain the ability to learn new spells, or higher “ranks” (more useful versions) of current spells. This happens on even levels (2, 4, 6, etc.). Be sure to go learn your spells as soon as you can and always keep in mind that you will need to use some of your gold for this. To train, just head to your nearest Priest Trainer and spend the money to “learn” the spells. Be sure to move the updated versions of the spells from your spellbook to your actionbar.

Level 60 and beyond you will be learning new spells and/or ranks of spells at every level.

Making Money:

Having gold is important as you need it to learn new skills and to purchase mounts at levels 40, 60, and 70, and to buy other useful things such as gear upgrades, potions, etc.

Selling items on the Auction House is the best way to make money. Any item whose name is not in grey text (meaning, not of “poor” quality) that is not “soulbound”, can typically be sold for a profit. See if others are selling your item, and try to price appropriately given the market value. Add-ons such as Auctioneer, KC_Items, or WowEcon can help you price items.

The Auction House can easily lure you in. Don’t spend a lot of time looking for or buying new gear for you. While leveling, you can easily “waste” a lot of money buying gear that will only last a level or two. Be thrifty in your purchases.

Starting out, you may not have much in the way of money and it can be agonizing. The shirt your character comes with initially and the robe can often be sold on the AH for a decent amount of money (I’ve seen them go for a gold, each!). Gathering professions, such as Skinning, Herbalism, or Mining can make you a lot of money if you are selling the items you gather on the AH.

Leveling: Levels 0-9

Where to Quest:

• Levels 1-6:
  Do all your quests in your race-specific starter area:
  • Deathknell (undead)
  • Valley of Trials (troll)
  • Sunstrider Isle (blood elf)
  • Coldridge Valley (dwarf)
  • Northshire Valley (human)
  • Shadowglen (night elf)
  • Ammen Vale (draenei)
• Levels 5+:
  Move on to your secondary starting area:
  • Brill (undead)
  • Sen’jin Villiage and Razor Hill (troll)
  • Eversong Woods (blood elf)
  • Kharanos (dwarf)
  • Goldshire (human)
  • Dolanaar (night elf)
  • Azure Watch (draenei)

Note: If you know you want to gain rep with another same-faction race (for, say, the ability buy their mount eventually), it would be a wise choice to head over to their starter area and do all the quests there (and their follow-ups into the secondary areas).
For Orc, head over to Durotar. For Tauren, head over to Mulgore. For Gnome, go to Dun Morogh. Others, see above.

New Spells:

To add new spells or ranks of spells to your Action Bar (where your other spells are), just open up your spellbook (hit “P”) and then click on the tabs on the left of the spellbook to see your spells. You can drag and drop any of those icons to your action bar. In most cases, you will want to be using the highest “rank” of the spell that you can.

Remember to go to your Priest Trainer at even numbered levels to learn new spells (there are trainers in major cities, too, so you do not have to keep running back to your first priest trainer; just ask a City Guard for directions to one).

• You start off knowing Smite (a holy damage spell) and Lesser Heal (healing spell).
• Level 2: you learn Power Word: Fortitude, a buff that increases your stamina (keep yourself buffed with this).
• Level 4: you learn Shadow Word: Pain. This is a damage-over-time (DoT) shadow damage spell.
• Level 6: you gain Power: Word: Shield. This will protect you character from some damage while it is up, but it costs too much mana to cast all the time.
• Level 8: Fade. This is for use in group play (instances, raids, etc). It will let you temporarily drop some of your “aggro” (mob hate). It is useless while solo leveling, as it won’t cause a mob to “un-aggro” (run away from) you unless there is another player attacking it.

Spell Casting Rotation:
This is the order in which you will typically cast spells when not in an instance.

Smite -> SW:Pain (once you get it) -> Smite -> then use your wand (or weapon if you do not have one) to finish the mob off.

Renew (once you get it) after the mob dies if you need healing. If you know you are going to pull a lot of mobs at the same time, then use Power Word: Shield on yourself first.

New Gear:

At level 5, you can start using a wand. Pick one up ASAP! Your leveling will go so much faster once you get one. To use it, open up your spellbook (press “P”) and on your “General” tab there is an icon that says “Shoot”. Drag and drop that icon onto your action bar (where your spells are). Just press that button to start shooting your wand at a mob. Press it again (or just move your character) if you need to stop. A Lesser Magic Wand, made by an enchanter or found on the Auction House, is the best one until level 13.

At level 6, there is a priest-only quest to get a robe. Your priest-trainer in your secondary starting area will give you the quest. It is to simply locate and heal/buff a NPC.

As for other gear, just take what you can find at this level. Don’t go to too much trouble to look for gear on the Auction House, as it will likely be overpriced. Don’t spend your precious gold on gear that will be replaced in a few hours.

Get (bigger) bags as soon as you can (typically cheaper from the Auction House than from a vendor).

Head to a weapon trainer in a city to learn the “Daggers” and “Staves” weapon skills as soon as you can afford it. Daggers can be learned in any city, but Staves can only be learned in: Darnassus & Stormwind (Alliance) or Orgrimmar & Thunder Bluff (Horde). It costs 10 silver to learn each new weapon skill.

Professions:

At level 5 you can choose two primary professions, and any of the three secondary professions that you want. First aid is considered a must for any character. Blacksmithing and Leatherworking provide little to no benefit to a priest. Tailoring can get you some nice gear at level 70. But feel free to choose whatever you want. It costs 10 copper to learn a profession.

Leveling: Levels 10-19

Where to Quest:

• Levels 10-12: Wrap things up in your secondary starting area zone where you were questing prior to level 10 (Elwynn Forest, Teldrassil, Azuremyst Isle, Dun Morogh, Tirisfal Forest, Sunstrider Isle, Durotar).
• Levels 10+: Venture out into the big world …
  • Alliance: Darkshore, Westfall, Loch Modan, or Bloodmyst Isle.
  • Horde: Barrens, Ghostlands, or Silverpine Forest.
• Levels 15+: Stonetalon Mountains, or (Alliance) Redridge Mountains

New Spells:

At level 10, you will be getting your first race-specific priest spell at level: Touch of Weakness for undead and blood elves, Hex of Weakness for trolls, Desperate Prayer for humans and dwarves, Symbol of Hope for draenei, and Starshards for night elves. Speak to a priest trainer to learn the spell (or to get directions to the priest trainer who will teach you the spell).

• Level 10: you learn Mind Blast, which is a shadow damage spell. You will also learn Resurrection, which will let you raise dead players of your same faction (out of combat, only).
• Level 12: you gain Inner Fire, which is a self-only buff that increases your armor. A higher armor value reduces the amount of physical damage that your character will take. The spell lasts 10 minutes or 20 “charges”, whichever comes first (a charge is used up whenever your character is physically hit). Try to keep this buff up on yourself whenever you can.
• Level 14: Cure Disease will let you remove one disease affect on yourself or a friendly target. You also learn Psychic Scream, which will let you fear up to two enemies (more at higher ranks) for 8 seconds; very useful!
• Level 16: You learn Heal. This is just like Lesser Heal, but heals for more (and costs more mana).
• Level 18: You learn Dispel Magic, which lets you remove one (harmful) magic effects from a friend or one (beneficial) from an enemy.

Spell Casting Rotation:

Smite -> SW:Pain -> Mind Blast -> Wand until the mob dies
Shield yourself before pulling the mob if you are having trouble.

Talents:

You get your first talent point at level 10. You can see your talent trees by pressing “n”, and can spend the points by clicking on where you want them to go. Be careful; it costs money to relearn talents if you make a mistake. Try to plan ahead.

You will get new talent points every level past level 10, so be sure to spend them! Don’t save them up.

New Gear:

Continue to keep you wand updated. You want the highest DPS on a wand that you can get. At level 13, a Greater Magic Wand becomes the best for number of levels. Check the AH for it, or ask your friendly neighborhood enchanter.

During these levels, you should try to replace all of your items with grey names (poor quality) or white names (common quality) with items that have green names (meaning, are of uncommon quality). Again, don’t go out of you way to buy a lot of items off of the AH. They will be easily be replaced in 1-2 levels, so there isn’t much point. Just equip what you get from quest rewards and find on mobs (that have appropriate priest stats, see “Gearing”, above).

In case you are curious, the color of the name of the item is a general indicator of how “good” it is (actually, it means how many stats the item has on it for the level the item can be equipped at). They are as follows (in general):

Grey – Poor – Found on most mobs. Not useful to players.
White – Common – Found on many mobs. Can be used or sold at the AH.
Green – Uncommon – Sometimes found on mobs. Sell or use.
Blue – Rare – Rarely dropped by mobs. Can be used for many levels or sold for a lot of gold.
Purple – Epic – Very rare drops. These should last a player a very long time, or can be sold for a large amount of money.
Orange – Legendary – These are very special items from certain raid instances.

The color of an item’s name doesn’t necessarily mean it is better in every case, especially while leveling. Always look at the stats on the items when comparing. Just because something has more stats on it doesn’t mean they are stats that you necessarily can use. Don’t be fooled.

Professions:

Once you reach level 10, you can increase your professions past a 75 skill. If you have 5 silver and a 50 skill level in a profession, you can head to your profession trainer to learn the “Journeyman” level (which lets you skill up to 150).

Leveling: Levels 20-29

Where to Quest:

• Levels 20-25: Finish things up in Stonetalon Mountains, (Alliance) Redridge Mountains, or (Horde) Barrens.
• Levels 20+: Ashenvale, (Horde) Hillsbrad Foothills, or (Alliance) Duskwood & Wetlands
• Levels 25+: (Horde) Thousand Needles, (Alliance) Hillsbrad Foothills

New Spells:

• Level 20: This is a big level for spells. You get:
  • Fear Ward: This is a buff that you can cast on yourself or any other friendly player that will prevent one fear effect on them (and is consumed once it does so, or after 3 min, whichever comes first).
  • Flash Heal: This is a 1.5 cast (fast!) heal that will heal less than your longer cast spells typically would.
  • Holy Fire: This is a longer casting time holy damage spell that has a
  • Mind Soothe: This will reduce the range that an enemy humanoid mob will attack you by 10 yards. Only useful for trying to sneak by mob(s) that you do not want to fight.
  • Shackle Undead: This is a “crowd control” spell which will lock undead mobs (NOT undead players) in place and render them unable to attack until they take damage or the spell wears off.

  Plus, you will be getting your second race-specific priest spell at level 20: Devouring Plague for undead, Shadowguard for trolls, Consume Magic for blood elves, Chastise for draenei and dwarves, Feedback for humans, and Elune’s Grace for night elves. Speak to a priest trainer to learn the spell (or to get directions to the priest trainer who will teach you the spell).

• Level 22: Mind Vision will let you see through the eyes of another character or NPC.
• Level 24: You learn Mana Burn, which isn’t very helpful for leveling, but can be a lifesaver in PvP. It will “burn” away some of an enemy’s mana doing damage equal to mana burned.

Don’t forget that you also will be getting new ranks of spells at every even level.

Spell Casting Rotation:

Holy Fire -> SW:Pain -> Smite (if needed) -> Mind Blast -> Wand until mob dies

Or, if you are shadow:
Mind Blast -> SW:Pain -> Mind Flay -> Mind Flay (if needed) -> Wand until mob dies

New Gear:

Be sure to keep a wand appropriate to your level, and check the AH for future wands of use.

There is some nice gear from instances:

• In your low 20s, if you haven’t already, consider running Deadmines, Wailing Caverns, or Shadowfang Keep for some gear upgrades (and xp!).
• In the upper 20s, hit Razorfen Kraul or Gnomeregan (if you can find a group!); both have some excellent drops (and nice quest rewards, too!).

Some easy-to-get non-instance items that may last you a while:

• Feet: Spidersilk Boots (level 20), from tailoring or the AH.
• Chest: Lesser Wizard’s Robe (level 22), from tailoring or the AH.
• Finger: Ring of Twilight Shadows (level 23), from a jewelcrafter or the AH.
• Neck: Amulet of the Moon (level 25), from a jewelcrafter or the AH.
• Wand: Lesser Mystic Wand (level 26), from an enchanter or the AH.
• Finger: Wicked Moonstone Ring (level 27), from a jewelcrafter or the AH.
• Head: Enchanter’s Cowl (level 28), from tailoring or the AH.

Professions:

At level 20, you will be able to train your professions to the “Expert” level (past the maximum 150 skill), provided you have at least 125 skill. Being an “Expert”in a profession will let you skill it up to 225.

For your primary professions, just speak to your profession trainer to do so (or to be directed to the trainer who can train it higher). It will cost 50 silver.

Secondary professions will need a book to be trained further (purchasable from a vendor, or from the AH):

• First aid can only be trained past 150 from the book Expert First Aid – Under Wraps. It can be purchases for 1g from Balai Lok’Wein in Brackenwall Village (Dustwallow Marsh) for Horde, or Deneb Walker in Stormgarde Keep (Arathi Highlands) for Alliance.

• For Fishing, you will need to get Expert Fishing – The Bass and You which can be bought from Old Man Heming in Booty Bay (Stranglethorn Vale) for 1g.

• Cooking can be trained higher from from the Expert Cookbook. It can be purchased for 1g from Shandrina in southern Ashenvale for Alliance, or Wulan in Shadowprey Village (Desolace) for Horde.

Leveling: Levels 30-39

Where to Quest:

• Levels 30-35: Thousand Needles
• Levels 30+: Alterac Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Desolace, Stranglethorn Vale
• Levels 35+: Dustwallow Marsh, Badlands, Swamp of Sorrows

New Spells:

• Level 30: You learn Mind Control, which will let you control a hostile humanoid for a period of time. You will be able to cause it to attack and move. You also learn Prayer of Healing, which will let you heal party members in a 30 yard radius of you.
• Level 32: You get Abolish Disease, which is a better version of Cure Disease. This will attempt to remove disease effects when cast, and will continue to do so for a number of seconds. It costs the same mana-wise as Cure Disease, so use this instead.
• Level 34: Levitate is one of the most fun spells that we have. It lets us walk across water or fall without taking damage (lasts for 2 min or until we take damage). It requires a light feather to be cast. (Also gives you a neat floating animation!)

Spell Casting Rotation:

Holy Fire -> SW:Pain -> Smite -> Smite (if needed) -> Mind Blast -> Wand until mob dies

Or, if you are shadow:
Mind Blast -> SW:Pain -> Vampiric Embrace -> Mind Flay -> Mind Flay -> Wand until mob dies

New Gear:

Start watching the AH for cheap, good upgrades for you. It is best to look ahead, and bid on items when you can. Don’t spend a ton of money, and try to maximize the use of your upgrades by buying them before you can use them and banking them until you can.

There are many great gear upgrades for priests for these levels that come from instances, particularly Scarlet Monastery (Library and Cathedral, namely), Uldaman, and Razorfen Downs.

Some easy-to-get non-instance gear:

• Wand: Greater Mystic Wand (level 30), from an enchanter or the AH.
• Finger: Golden Power Ring (level 31), from a jewelcrafter or the AH.
• Neck: Jade Pendant of Blasting (level 31), from a jewelcrafter or the AH.
• Back: Long Silken Cloak (level 32), from a tailor or the AH.
• Neck: Citrine Pendant of Golden Healing (level 34), from a jewelcrafter or the AH.
• Trinket: Figurine: Jade Owl (level 35), BoP from jewelcrafting.
• Wand: Ember Wand (level 36), BoE, check the AH.
• Head: White Bandit Mask (level 38), from a tailor or the AH.
• Chest: Robe of Crystal Waters (level 38ish) STV quest reward
• Legs: Leggings of the Long Road (level 38ish) Dustwallow Marsh quest reward
• Head: Mistscape Wizard Hat (level 39) BoE, check the AH
• Back: Spellbound Cloak (level 39ish), Dustwallow Marsh quest.

Also: Generally speaking, the Black Mageweave items are pretty good. If you are a shadowpriest, some items from the Shadoweave set are quite nice, and may last you a while. Items from both sets can be made by tailors, or found on the AH.

Professions:

Primary professions will cost 5 gold to train to the next level, “Artisan”, and require at least 200 skill level.

• For gathering (primary) professions (skinning, mining, and herbalism), you can just speak to any of your profession trainers and pay them to train.
• For crafting (primary) profession (enchanting, tailoring, etc.), you will need to be at least level 35 to be able to train to as an Artisan (and for Engineering, you will have to select between Gnomish and Goblin Engineering).

For secondary professions, to train to the “Artisan” level, you must be level 35 and have a 225 skill level, and will need to complete a quest for each.

• For Fishing, you will need to see Nat Pagle in Dustwallow Marsh. He will send you on a quest that will take you to Feralas, Stranglethorn Vale, Desolace, and the Swamp of Sorrows.
• For First Aid, you will need to see Doctor Gregory Victor in Hammerfall (Arathi Highlands) for Horde or Doctor Gustaf VanHouzen in Theramore (Dustwallow Marsh). You will need to do a short quest to bandage some patients.
• For Cooking, you will need to bring some cooking supplies to Dirge Quikcleave in Gadgetzan (Tanaris).

Keep in mind that once you hit level 40, you will be able to train your riding skill up to the Apprentice level. This will cost (at most) 90g for the skill and 10g for the mount, so start saving!

Leveling: Levels 40-49

Where to Quest:

You have a lot of options for these levels:

• Level 40-45: Finish up in Stranglethorn Vale, Dustwallow Marsh, Swamp of Sorrows, and the Badlands.
• Level 40+: Tanaris and Feralas.
• Level 45+: Searing Gorge, The Hinterlands, Azshara.
• Level 48+: Felwood, Un’Goro, and the Blasted Lands.

New Spells:

• Level 40: You learn Greater Heal, which is a more powerful version of Heal. You will still likely use Heal a lot through the next 15 or so levels when you need a smaller heal (to limit overhealing).
• Level 48: Prayer of Fortitude will cast a longer-lasting Power Word: Fortitude on your whole party. It requires a Holy Candle (purchasable from a reagent vendor).

You have also likely learned a number of new spells from your talent points already. Don’t forget to keep spending those talent points every time you level up, and see a priest trainer at every even numbered level to learn new ranks of spells.

Spell Casting Rotation:

Holy Fire -> SW:Pain -> Smite -> Smite (if needed) -> Mind Blast -> Wand until mob dies

Or, if you are shadow:
Mind Blast -> SW:Pain -> Vampiric Embrace -> Mind Flay -> Mind Flay -> Wand until mob dies

New Gear:

Zul’Farrak has some very nice drops for priests, as does Maraudon (if you can find a group for it)..

As for non-instance gear:

As mentioned before, the Black Mageweave items are pretty good, as are some items from the Shadoweave set in the low 40s. Items from both sets can be made by tailors, or found on the AH.

Other notable non-instance gear:

• Wand: Umbral Wand (level 40), BoE, check the AH.
• Chest: Dreamwave Vest (level 40), from a tailor or the AH.
• Hands: Dreamweave Gloves (level 40), from a tailor or the AH.
• Wrist: Forgotten Wraps (level 41), BoE, check the AH.
• Finger: Band of the Unicorn (level 43), BoE, check the AH.
• Finger: Truesilver Healing Ring (level 43), from a jewelcrafter or the AH.
• Head: Cassandra’s Grace (level 44), BoE, check the AH.
• Waist: Swashbuckler Sash (level 44ish) Tanaris quest.
• Feet: Southsea Mojo Boots (level 45ish) Tanaris quest.
• Head: Dreamweave Circlet (level 45), from a tailor or the AH.
• Wand: Ivory Wand (level 46), BoE, check the AH.
• Back: Highborne Cloak (level 46), BoE, check the AH.
• Trinket: Figurine: Ruby Serpent (level 47), BoP from jewelcrafting.
• Neck: Pulsating Crystal (level 48ish), Arathi Highlands group quest.
• Legs: Dragonflight Leggings (level 49ish), Searing Gorge quest.

Professions:

Once you hit level 40, you will be able to train your riding skill up to the Apprentice level. This will cost (at most) 90g for the skill and 10g for the mount. Riding increases your movement speed by 60% and is an excellent investment.

For your other professions, train to the Artisan level, if you haven’t already. Work on skilling up your professions because at level 50, if your skill is high enough, you will be able eligible to train to a higher level.

Leveling: Levels 50-59

Where to Quest:

• Level 50-55: Finish up in Azshara, Felwood, Un’Goro, and the Blasted Lands.
• Level 50-58: Western Plaguelands and Burning Steppes.
• Level 54+: Winterspring, Eastern Plaguelands, and Silithus.

You could technically start Hellfire Peninsula at level 58, but the longer you hold off on doing Outlands quests, the more money you could potentially make at level 70 from them.

New Spells:

There are no new priest spells these levels, outside of what you may be learning from talents. Don’t forget to keep spending those talent points every time you level up, and see a priest trainer at every even numbered level to learn new ranks of spells.

Spell Casting Rotation:

Non-shadow:
Holy Fire -> SW:Pain -> Smite -> Smite -> Mind Blast -> Wand

Shadow with Vampiric Touch talent:
Vampiric Touch -> SW:Pain -> Vampiric Embrace -> Mind Flay -> Mind Flay or Mind Blast (if needed) -> Wand until mob dies

Shadow without Vampiric Touch talent:
Mind Blast -> SW:Pain -> Vampiric Embrace -> Mind Flay -> Mind Flay -> Mind Blast (if needed) -> Wand until mob dies

New Gear:

Instances are tough to find groups for at these levels. There are some nice priest drops in all the instances for these levels, so do try to run what you can get a group for.

Notable priest class quests:

• If you do the level 50 priest class quest chain that starts with the priest trainer in Orgrimmar (horde) or Ironforge (alliance) and sends you to Azshara, then you will want to run Sunken Temple (aka, the Temple of Atal’Hakar). The wand reward will likely last you until the Outlands.

• There is a Dire Maul priest quest where you turn in the book “Holy Bologna: What the Light Won’t Tell You” (rare BoE drop in found Dire Maul, or on the AH). The trinket reward will likely be kept well into the Outlands.

Notable non-instance gear:

If you can find a tailor who can make items of the Felcloth set, some of them may be good upgrades for a shadow priest. Also, if you are doing the Silithus dukes quest chain, or can find the items on the AH, the “Abyssal” items can be quite nice.

• Trinket: Figurine: Emerald Owl (level 50), BoP from jewelcrafting.
• Shoulders: Elder Wizard’s Mantle (level 51), BoE, check the AH.
• Finger: Glowing Thorium Band (level 51), from the AH or a jewelcrafter.
• Neck: Sapphire Pendant of Winter Night (level 51), from the AH or a jewelcrafter.
• Feet: Archaeologist’s Quarry Boots (level 52ish), Un’Goro quest.
• Chest: Robe of Winter Night (level 52), rare tailoring BoE, check the AH or ask a tailor.
• Finger: Ring of Bitter Shadows (level 52), from the AH or a jewelcrafter.
• Neck: Living Emerald Pendant (level 53), BoP from jewelcrafting.
• Feet: Wolfrunner Shoes (level 54), BoE, check the AH.
• Off-Hand: Glowing Black Orb (level 55), BoE, from Silithus or check the AH.
• Chest: Trufaith Vestments (level 57), BoP tailoring (pattern can sometimes be found on AH).
• Back: Hide of the Wild (level 57), BoE from rare tribal leatherworking pattern.
• Back: Crystalline-Threaded Cape (level 58), BoE from Silithus or check the AH.
• Main Hand: Black Crystal Dagger (level 58ish), Silithus group quest.
• Two-hand: Corrupted Blackwood Staff (level 59ish), Silithus group quest.

Note: Try to avoid the Devout set items if you can. I know it is a “priest” set, but the stats on the items are awful and likely not an upgrade for you.

Professions:

At level 50, you can train your professions to the “Master” level, which would raise your maximum skill to 375.

For Primary Professions, to train you have to have s 275 skill level and need to pay a specific trainer in the Outlands10g. You can try to get a mage to port you to Shattrath, have a warlock summon you to the Outlands, or just wait until you are level 58 and go through the Dark Portal.

Here is where you have to go:

• Alchemy: Honor Hold (Alliance) or Thrallmar (Horde) or Lower City (either)
• Enchanting: Honor Hold (Alliance), Thrallmar (Horde), Scryer Rise or Stormspire (either)
• Engineering: Honor Hold or Telredor (Alliance), Thrallmar or Zabra’jin (Horde), Area 52 (either)
• Herbalism: Honor Hold (Alliance) or Thrallmar (Horde)
• Jewelcrafting: Honor Hold (Alliance), Thrallmar (Horde), Aldor Rise or Stormspire (either)
• Mining: Honor Hold (Alliance), Thrallmar (Horde)
• Skinning: Honor Hold (Alliance) or Thrallmar (Horde) or Lower City (either)
• Tailoring: Honor Hold (Alliance) or Thrallmar (Horde)

For Secondary Professions, you learn the “Master” skill level from a BoE book if you have a 300 skill level. These can be easily obtained from the AH, or bought for 5g from specific vendors in the Outlands.

Here is where the books are availble:

• Master Cookbook: Honor Hold (Alliance), Thrallmar (Horde), Cenarion Refuge (either)
• Master First Aid – Doctor in the House: Temple of Telhamat (Alliance) or Falcon Watch (Horde)
• Master Fishing – The Art of Angling: Cenarion Refuge (either)

Keep in mind that once you hit level 60, you will be able to train your riding skill up to the Journeyman level. This will cost (at most) 600g for the skill and 100g for the mount, so start saving!

Leveling: Levels 60-69

Where to Quest:

Welcome to the Outlands!
Optional: wrap up quests in Silithus, Eastern Plaguelands and Winterspring before jumping through the portal.

• Level 60-63: Hellfire Peninsula
• Level 60-64: Zangarmarsh
• Level 62-65: Terokkar Forest
• Level 64-67: Nagrand
• Level 65-68: Blade’s Edge Mountains
• Level 67+: Shadowmoon Valley and Netherstorm

New Spells:

At level 60, you will learn new spells and/or ranks of spells every level. Start visiting a priest trainer every level.

• Level 60: You learn Prayer of Shadow Protection, which will cast a longer-lasting Shadow Protection on your entire party. It requires a sacred candle (available from a reagent vendor).
• Level 62: Shadow Word: Death is a instant cast spell (12 sec. cooldown) that deals damage to an enemy (and the same to yourself if it doesn’t finish the enemy off).
• Level 64: Binding Heal will heal yourself and a friendly target for a small amount, but the healing causes 1/2 the threat. The spell has a fairly high mana cost.
• Level 66: Shadowfiend is a spell that will cast a shadowfiend pet, that will attack the targeted enemy for 15 sec. You will regenerate mana equal to the damage it causes.
• Level 68: Prayer of Mending will put a buff on the target that will heal them a small amount the next time they are hit (within 30 sec). The buff then jumps to a nearby player. It has five charges, and loses a charge each time it heals a player. The spell causes healing threat to the player it heals.

Spell Casting Rotation:

Non-shadow:
Holy Fire -> SW:Pain -> Smite -> Smite -> Mind Blast -> Wand

Shadow without Vampiric Touch talent:
Mind Blast -> SW:Pain -> Vampiric Embrace -> Mind Flay -> Mind Flay -> Mind Blast (if needed) -> Wand until mob dies

Shadow with Vampiric Touch talent:
Vampiric Touch -> SW:Pain -> Vampiric Embrace -> Mind Flay -> Mind Flay or Mind Blast (if needed) -> Wand until mob dies

New Gear:

There will be great gear coming at you from every angle.

• Here is a list of nice priest items from quests and instances.
• Here is a list of items available from reputation.

Can get some nice items if you have a crafting professions as well.

• Tailors will be able to make a nice three-piece set on-par with tier 5 raid gear (Primal Mooncloth or Frozen Shadoweave).
• Engineers will be able to make some fantastic headgear (Powerheal 4000 Lens or Destruction Holo-gogs).
• Alchemists will be able to make a great trinket (Alchemist’s Stone).
• Jewelcrafters will be able to make a nifty trinket or two (Figurine – Living Ruby Serpent and Figurine – Talasite Owl) and can make some nice BoP gems as well.

Professions:

If you have not already trained your primary and secondary professions to the “Master” level (allowing you to skill them up to 375), do so!

Certain crafting professions will let you specialize:

• For Tailoring, you can choose between Spellfire, Mooncloth, or Shadoweave tailoring. If you have at least a 350 skill in tailoring (and are level 60), speak to the appropriate tailor specialist in Lower City to choose (it costs 170g to change your mind, so choose carefully!). You will have to do a simple quest.
  • Spellfire Tailoring isn’t terribly useful, as the epic gear from it benefits mages and warlocks only (bonus to fire and arcane spell damage).
  • Mooncloth Tailoring allows you to craft epic healing gear, so choose this path if you think you will be a healer at level 70.
  • Shadoweave Tailoring lets you craft epic shadow (and frost) damage gear, so pick this if you think you will stay (or become) a shadow priest.
• For Alchemy, if you have a 325 skill and are level 68 or higher, you can choose between Potion Mastery, Elixir Mastery, and Transmute Mastery. These are all equal choices as far as priests are concerned. You will have to do a quest to gather certain materials to specialize, some of which require items from instances. It costs 150g to change your mind after you choose.
  • Potion Mastery will give you a chance of producing extra potions when crafting them.
  • Elixir Mastery will give you a chance to produce extra elixirs or flasks when crafting them.
  • Transmute Mastery will give you a chance to produce extra primals when transmuting them.

At level 60, you will be able to train your riding skill up to the Journeyman level. This will cost (at most) 600g for the skill and 100g for the mount. You will now be able to use mounts that increase your movement speed by 100%. It is well worth the investment.

Keep in mind that once you hit level 70, you will be able to train your riding skill beyond the Journeyman level. This will (literally) cost thousands of gold, so start saving!

Life at Level 70

Where to Quest:

Wrap up those Outlands quests for a ton of money! Quests completed at level 70 give you a bonus to the gold rewards. Most will net you about 12g. You will likely want to spend time working on reputation-specific quests as well.

Talents:

You may want to choose to respec to something better suited to your end game goals (raiding, PvP, etc.).

New Spells:

See your priest trainer to learn all the final ranks of all your spells (remember to relearn ranks of spells from your trainer if you respec!) . The only brand new spell the trainer will teach you at level 70 is:

• Mass Dispel – Will dispel up to 5 harmful effects from friendly targets and up to 5 beneficial effects from hostile targets in a 15 yard radius. It can dispel some things that Dispel cannot. It has a high mana cost. This is mainly used in PvP.

At level 70, there are two ranks of spells that you must learn from BoE world drop books (check the AH):

• Prayer of Fortitude (rank 3) – This is the highest rank of the group buff for Power Word : Fortitude. Learn this from the Codex: Prayer of Fortitude III.
• Prayer of Shadow Protection (rank 2) – This is the highest rank of the group buff for Shadow Protection. Learn this from the Codex: Prayer of Shadow Protection II.

Spell Casting Rotation:

(For the continued grinding of mobs…)

Non-shadow:
Holy Fire -> SW:Pain -> Smite -> Smite (if needed) -> Mind Blast -> Wand until mob dies

Shadow:
Vampiric Touch -> SW:Pain -> Vampiric Embrace -> Mind Flay -> Mind Flay or Mind Blast (if needed) -> Wand until mob dies

New Gear:

You will likely want to work on focusing your gear toward whatever your objective is with your character (healing, shadow, raiding, PvP, etc.).

• Casual Shadow Instancing/Raiding Gear
• Best Shadow Raid Gear

• Best Healing Gear (causal and overall)

• Priest PvP Gear

Be sure to get your gear properly enchanted and gemmed as well.

Professions:

Work on maxing out your professions, and collecting rare and BoP recipes that you may have missed (recipe lists: Alchemy, Enchanting, Engineering, Jewelcrafting, and Tailoring).

Upon hitting level 70, you will be able to train your riding skill up to the Expert level. This will cost 800g for the skill and 100g for the mount. You will be able to use flying mounts (at a 60% movement speed). This is a great investment as there are places in the Outlands that are unreachable without a flying mount.

Once you have the Expert riding skill, you can level up to the Artisan skill. The Artisan skill costs 5,000g and (most) mounts are another 200g on top of that. Being at an Artisan level in riding will let you ride flying mounts that increase your movement speed by 280%. This makes travel in the Outlands so much easier!

Appendix 1: Where to Level, Zones

 

Click to see chart.

 

Appendix 2: Where to Level, Dungeons

 

Click to see chart.

 

 

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